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Another Flashback Friday - Rick Wakeman Final Tour Review

It’s another early morning (1AM) flashback Friday as I cannot sleep after attending last nights Rick Wakeman Final Tour at the Paramount Treater, Peekskill NY.  At my age, the flashbacks and insomnia are not pharmaceutically induced but rather naturally  induced by dopamine, cortisol, and endorphins from the virtuoso performance in the acoustically excellent theater, and memories from my youth the last time I saw Wakeman with Yes in June 1979 at the Nassau Coliseum. I will not comment on whether there were chemically induced states of the mind back then.  Gone is the mid-back length golden locks, the lanky posture now stiff, and the gait now an Ozzy Osbourne like shuffle; but the fingers, the fingers, oh how they still move will lightning speed and laser precision with ability to convey the raw emotion of the complex compositions the fuse elements of rock, jazz, and classical music and, at times include comic passages.  This ability to convey emotion remains through his music as one of his finest attributes.  His whit remain razor sharp as he interacted with the audience about his career and personal life, at one point drawing analogy to his many wives and those of Henry the Eighth - Henry got to cut their heads off while he had to buy them homes and share the wealth and he stated his doctor told him to loose weight so he cut those locks and dropped 20 lbs.  The set included pieces from The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth, a tribute to David Bowie playing songs he accompanied on, Yessonata, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, John Lennon and Paul McCartney numbers he accompanied on.  The set was minimalist with none of the projected psychedelic art of past Yes concerts.  A grad piano and a two keyboard synthesizer the only instruments.  If you do not know the Paramount, it is an intimate, art deco (1930) theater with excellent acoustics.  I tend to gravitate to theaters like this now, avoiding large venues.  I always reflect on the ability of home systems, including some multi million dollar systems I have heard, in how far they are from reproducing the way the dynamics and imaging develop in an acoustically superior venue like the Paramount.   I wish Mr. Wakeman well and thank him for his extensive prog-rock catalogue and concerts that have stimulated my mind, including getting lost in William Roger Dean album art.  It was the last tour date in the US.  I hope you caught one of the series.  If you fell like, I would love to hear flashbacks you have of Wakeman and the Yes.

jsalerno277

Showing 2 responses by mylogic

mylogic
449 posts
 

@larsman 

Rick and Dave in East Devon and your proposed holiday next year.

Rick was indeed a very fun minded musician. He even appeared in a TV series “Grumpy Old Men” and wrote a book on a similar theme. As l said before he lived in “Woodbury Salterton”, a sleepy village in Devon. With Gothic iron gates just like a fortified mansion it fit his persona after “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table”. He lived between “Glastonbury” and  “Tintagel Castle” both King Arthur legendary sites.

His reunion concert with Dave Cousins was a double take with both artists reminiscing and offering up hugely entertaining stories. The one thing l really remember was when Rick was playing his main set, he started the intro to Catherine Parr. Suddenly he stopped because of a ten second whoosh that went from left to right across the hall. With the venue in complete silence…… “What the *#+@ was that?” he shouted out….. Someone in the audience shouted back….”The intercity 125 train”   “O thank God for that” …. “I thought there was something wrong with my equipment!”

Rick was known for wanting to play on and on trying to squeeze in extra tracks. The concert was in a residential area and that night they had to turn all the lights on to get him off stage.

You mentioned next year you may fly over and seek out the Devon and Cornwall area in our West Country. If you do come l would recommend that you rent a car in Exeter or Plymouth. The train network here is not extensive enough for you to visit the best places like Dartmoor and towns in Devon and the beautiful fishing villages in Cornwall. For example you can not go by rail to “Lands End”, “St, Ives” or most of the lovely beaches on a train. Cornwall has been listed as having one of the top ten beaches in the world, “Kynance Cove” near “The Lizard”, the most southerly point in England. A car is key to unlocking the area as the peninsula is quite long with two coastlines. And remember there’s Dorset too.
Are you aware of the rural Thomas Gray’s Poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” that Rick put to music with the English actor Robert Powell narrating?

mylogic
449 posts
 

@larsman 

l know this is now a dead discussion but l have a few memories.

First time l went to a concert was in Exeter England in the 80s. “An intimate evening with Rick Wakeman” accompanied with guitar player and drummer he often played with. The best part was the support act… Dave Cousins from The Strawbs period of Ricks career. After a few warm up songs Cousins introduced him and they played 70s Strawbs songs. It was a very intimate evening because during the 70s both artists lived in Woodbrury Salterton and Sidbury in Devon, in neighbouring villages very near my home. There was a CD now quite rare released twenty years ago on Witchwood Media of the entire Strawbs set.

In around 2015 (from memory) Rick recreated the entire “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” album on a tour in the UK. I went to the concert in Plymouth where it was authentically recreated with Orchestra, Choir, Narrator and the original singer. The first part of the concert was again an intimate affair with songs from his Bowie contributions and his earlier albums.

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